Louisville Switching Blog

It's the beginning of 2016, and we want to start off the year right by reminding you of the importance of safety when it comes to yard trucks and lifting heavy objects. In our industry, we take safety very seriously, and for good reason. A recent National Post article titled Big Cars Kill, says, "For every 450 kilograms added to the weight of a car (roughly the difference between a Toyota Prius and a Ford Taurus), a vehicle becomes 40 percent more likely to turn an otherwise survivable crash into a fatal collision." That means that you carry a huge responsibility if you work with yard trucks on a daily basis.

The best way to see the superiority of an Ottawa is in person. We will bring an Ottawa yard truck to your facility and show you in person the efficiency and overall superiority of an Ottawa switcher first hand. A video is a great way to show you the basics, but when you see an Ottawa in action in person, you will know for sure all the quality that goes into the engineering and manufacturing of these yard trucks.

When you invest in equipment you need a guarantee that it will deliver what it promises. When you step into an Ottawa cab, then move and spot a trailer in a third of the time of a road truck, you will wonder why you didn't make this move sooner. Often referred to as yard horses, the Ottawa Switcher is the Thoroughbred of yard horses. Based in Kentucky, Louisville Switching is centrally located to provide products and services to all the areas surrounding the bluegrass state, both timely and professionally. We have clients in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and beyond.

Call Chris Troutt today and
request a demo. Be warned now that Chris on many occasion has been pleaded with to leave the Ottawa on site by the drivers. One of the great things about working with Louisville Switching is we don't simply sell you a yard truck, but we provide high quality, on going maintenance and 24 hour on call servicing. Time saved is money saved. Call us today for your free demo at
502.935.5838.

Ottawa terminal trucks have some great features that are a huge hit with our customers. The Ottawas have bright yellow platforms to designate safe stepping areas and will undoubtedly cut down on injuries. Two of the top injuries in trailer yards are caused from cranking legs up and down on the trailers and climbing in and out of the cab. Drivers who are missing out on the hydraulic lifting capability of a switcher have to manually lower and raise the legs on each trailer by hand. Using a switcher quickly removes six steps out of the old process.

1. Getting down on the ground2. Cranking the legs up3. Climbing back up in the truck4. Getting down on the ground5. Cranking the legs back down6. Climbing back up in the truck

Think of the toll you are eliminating from your drivers. That much climbing in and out of cabs and cranking legs will wear you down and eventually result in more injuries. The brightly-painted steps on Ottawa Switchers makes it easier for drivers to clearly see where you can step, and where you can’t. This is a simple solution to a common injury that occurs from mis-stepping. On top of being a good steward of your human resources, fewer injuries will affect insurance premiums and should result in lower costs due to fewer worker’s compensation claims.

On a recent demo for a customer, a manager in the human resources department saw us from their office window and rushed out to greet us. They recognized immediately the advantages of the Ottawa as an injury reducer for the drivers. Not only are there brightly-painted platforms and steps, but also strategically-place hand rails that are brightly colored to stand out against the white color of the cab. If the 3 to 1 time efficiency of Switchers to semi-trucks was not incentive enough, the added features on Ottawa Switchers to reduce injury should be high on the list of reasons to go with Louisville Switching.